A57970:570
Joshua Redivivus, or Mr. Rutherford's Letters
Joshua redivivus, or, Mr. Rutherford's letters divided into two parts, the first, containing these which were written from Aberdeen, where he was confined by a sentence of the high commission ... partly on account of his non-conformance : the second, containing some which were written from Anwoth ... / now published for the use of all the people of God ... by a well-wisher to the work & people of God.Joshua redivivus, or, Mr. Rutherfoord's letters divided into two parts, the first, containing these which were written from Aberdeen, where he was confined by a sentence of the high commission ... partly on account of his non-conformance : the second, containing some which were written from Anwoth ... / now published for the use of all the people of God ... by a wellwisher to the work & people of God.
Rotterdam? : s.n., 1664
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
To Mr JOHN FERGUSHILL. [101]
Reverend and well-beloved in the Lord.
Reverend and welbeloved in the Lord.
I Was refreshed with your letter: I am sorry for that lingering and long some visitation that is upon your wife; but I know ⟨p. 201⟩ye take it as a mark of a lawfully begotten child & not of a bastard to be under your father's rod: till ye be in heaven it will be but foul weather, one shower up & another down: The lintel-stones & pillars of the new Jerusalem suffer moe knocks of God's hammer & tool, then the common side-wall stones: & if twenty crosses be written for you in God's book, they will come to nineteen & then at last to one, & after that nothing but your head betwixt Christ's breasts for evermore: & his own soft hand to dry your face & wipe away your tears. As for public sufferings for his truth, your Master also will see to these: Let us put him in his own office, to comfort & deliver: the gloom of Christ's cross is worse then it self. I cannot keep up what he hath done to my soul: My dear Brother, will I not get help of you to praise & to lift Christ up on high? He hath pained me with his love, & hath left a love arrow in my heart that hath made a wound & swelled me up with desires, so, that I am to be pitied for want of real possession: love would have the company of the party loved: & my greatest pain is the want of him, not of his joys & comforts, but of a near union, & communion. This is his truth I am fully persuaded I now suffer for: For Christ hath taken upon him to be witness to it, by his sweet comforts to my soul; & shall I think him a false witness, or that he would subscribe blank paper? I thank his high and dreadful name, for what he hath given, I hope to keep his seal & his pawn till he come & loose it himself. I defy hell to put me off it, but he is Christ & he hath met with his prisoner: & I took instruments in his own hand, that it was he & no other for him. When the Devil fenceth a bastard court in my Lord's ground & giveth me forged summons, it will be my shame to misbelieve after such a fair broad seal: & yet Satan & my apprehension sometimes make a lye of Christ, as if he hated me; but I dare believe no evil of Christ: if he would cool my love fever for himself with real presence & possession, I would be rich; but I dare not be mislearned and seek more in that kind; howbeit it be no shame to beg at Christ's door.